DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL SOLIDS FLOWMETER FOR GAS-SOLID SYSTEMS

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A NOVEL SOLIDS FLOWMETER BASED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF THE INTERACTION OF POLARIZED LIGHT AND A MAGNETIC FIELD, KNOWN AS THE FARADAY EFFECT. THIS SOLIDS FLOW METER UTILIZES A BEAM OF POLARIZED LIGHT THAT PASSES THROUGH THE MAGNETIC FIELD GENERATED BY CHARGED PARTICLES FLOWING IN A PIPE. THE PARTICLES CAN BE CHARGED NATURALLY BY BOMBARDING A NONCONDUCTIVE WALL, OR THEY CAN BE CHARGED ARTIFICIALLY BY USING A CORONA DISCHARGE PROBE. THE FLOW OF THE CHARGED PARTICLES THROUGH THE PIPE CAN BE LIKENED TO A CURRENT FLOW AND, CONSEQUENTLY, A MAGNETIC FIELD CAN BE PRODUCED. THE DEGREE OF POLARIZATION SHIFT IS A DIRECT MEASURE OF THE MAGNETIC FIELD PRODUCED, AND THIS FIELD STRENGTH IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE AMOUNT OF SOLIDS FLOWING IN A PIPE. THIS METER IS NONINTRUSIVE IN NATURE AND PROMISES TO BE AN IMPORTANT STEP TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SOLIDS FLOWMETER, WHICH WOULD HAVE NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS IN THE FOSSIL FUEL UTILIZATION AREA. EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, CHEMICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY USING CHARGED PARTICLES SUGGESTS THAT THIS PHENOMENON COULD SERVE AS THE BASIS FOR A RUGGED INDUSTRIAL SOLIDS FLOWMETER. IN PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT, A FLOW LOOP FOR PNEUMATIC CONVEYING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH IS BEING MODIFIED FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION. AFTER PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTS WITH GLASS BEADS AS THE TEST SOLIDS, FURTHER EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED WITH FLY ASH AND COAL PARTICLES. THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY ASSESSING THE DEGREE OF REPRODUCIBILITY, RELIABILITY, AND RUGGEDNESS AND POTENTIAL FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION OF THE PHENOMENA TO A PRACTICAL FLOWMETER FOR SOLIDS FLOW MEASUREMENT.